Bill's Secret Garden
by Elisafairy
Summary: A young girl living in Cerulean City has always been curious by the cottage by the cape, and fascinated by the mysterious beings known as Pokegods. But her curiosity may lead her places she will regret.


I was a child in Cerulean City, young and happy and safe. It was a beautiful place and a beautiful time, but _real_ too. Life was so real. Run around the town, feel the dirt under your fingernails. I used to sit on the bank of the canal with my Pokemon & dip my feet in the water.

I used to go wherever I pleased, and my parents didn't care. They knew it was a safe town. They knew I wouldn't go far. I would see the mountains in the distance and sometimes I'd even pack up all my clothes and say I was going to go see what was there, but I'd get scared and come back right away.

I wish I'd gotten scared this time.

One place I used to play was Cerulean Cape. Hardly anyone went up there, so it was like my own little kingdom. I'd pick flowers and just spend hours exploring every little nook. But there was a cottage up there, a cottage by the sea, so cute but so lonely. I always wondered what was there. I thought if it were abandoned I might make it a playhouse for myself. But I always chickened out before I got there, even with my Vaporeon by my side.

So I just sat at a pond at Cerulean Cape, and looked up the hill at that little cottage, and dreamed in fields of flowers of what might be in there. I would take old story books up there. Children's books that had belonged to my grandmother. I loved their dusty smell and yellowed pages with simple illustrations in muted colors.

My favorite stories told of rare old Pokemon, called the Pokegods. One of my favorites was a further evolution of Flareon, called Flareth. I promised my Vaporeon if she ever had pups some day, we'd evolve one into a Flareth for sure.

But there were others as well: legendary birds, an onix made of diamond, another evolution after Nidoking, a Pikachu-like fire Pokemon, and a water mouse Pokemon, among others… I could feel my heart quickening just reading about them, just to think that there were still Pokemon no one knew anything about, that no one had caught. I dreamed that one day I would catch them and prove to people they were real.

I eventually stopped believing in the Pokegods after trying in vain all the secret ways to find them that my book told of. None of them worked. It devastated me at first, but eventually I moved on and found a new dream. When I was seventeen I left Kanto to go study Pokemon breeding.

I didn't come home for two whole years, but when I was nineteen I felt a twinge in my heart, calling me home. I was feeling nostalgic for old Cerulean City, and so I returned. My parents welcomed me home with much joy, and I was glad to be home. After a few days of being smothered with love, I decided to go out to the old cape and camp for the weekend for old time's sake.

Vaporeon at my side, everything I needed on a pack on my back, I set out towards the cape. When I got there, I saw the cottage on the hill, looking as gloomy and lonely as ever.

I breathed in deep and reminded myself there was nothing to be scared of anymore. They were just silly childhood fears that held me back. I would finally go see what was up there. I hiked up the hill and came to the cabin. It was too dark and the windows were too dusty and cobweb covered to see inside. I figured it must be abandoned. I tried the door, but it was locked. After walking around the cabin a while and admiring the beautiful flowers that grew nearby, I realized could possibly get behind the house if I took the canal that was just east of here.

I got to the canal and took my shoes off. I dipped my toes in the water, a chill running up my spine. The water was cold, and I had an eerie feeling about this. It felt like no one had been here in a long time, except maybe ghosts. My Vaporeon slipped into the water, and I climbed onto her back, wrapping my arms around her neck nervously.

"Go ahead," I whispered. "Just north of here."

She obeyed and swam up the canal with me riding her, the only sound being the lapping of water. As we continued on, the air began to feel clammy and cold, raising goose bumps on my arms. It was misty here, and I could barely see ahead of us. I hoped Vaporeon's eyesight was better than mine.

Finally we came to a shore to the left of us, where we got out. My feet were numb and icy from trailing in the water. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. It seemed to be an orchard that we had come to, with many beautiful trees bearing unusual fruit I'd never seen before.

I was beginning to feel peaceful and at ease here, when something moved in the fog and disappeared behind a bush. I nearly jumped out of my skin, and Vaporeon hissed, her muscles tensed up. I didn't dare move for several minutes. Eventually, the creature came back out from its hiding spot, and my heart leaped.

It was one of the creatures from my storybook. It was a _Pokegod._ With its fiery appearance and Pikachu-like face, I immediately recognized it as pikaflare. I crouched and petted Vaporeon to calm her, then turned to the mysterious pocket monster. I reached out my hand to it, and it flinched at first, but then began slowly creeping towards me. It seemed more curious and bewildered than afraid.

When its nose touched my hand, I felt a chilling jolt go through me from the pure exhilaration of finally meeting a Pokegod. _Is this just a dream?_ I wondered. I hoped not. I thought that if it were only a dream, I would die of disappointment.

A twig crunched nearby and I gasped, standing up quickly. The pikaflare disappeared into the bushes, in the direction the snap had come from. A moment later, a young man came into the clearing, the pikaflare on his shoulder. He was handsome, with big brown eyes and wavy brown hair.

"Oh. Hello." He seemed surprised and flustered to see me here. "How did you find this place?"

"We surfed here, my Vaporeon and I." I introduced myself.

"My name is Bill," he said. "I'm sorry, but do you need something? If not, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He scratched the back of his head and seemed embarrassed. "Really, I'm sorry. It's nothing personal."

"Oh, no," I said. "I mean, it's no problem. I can go now if you want. But may I ask something? Is that…" I gestured at the pikaflare. "…what I think it is?"

"A Honoguma," he said, nodding. "A very rare Pokemon indeed."

"Oh," I said. He hadn't called it a Pokegod. Perhaps it was really just a very rare Pokemon, like he'd said. My old books were probably just dated myths about creatures that could easily be explained by science.

I started to leave, then turned back to face him. "You know, I thought at first it was a Pokegod, but I guess I was mistaken."

He seemed to stiffen when I said that.

_He knows more than he lets on,_ I thought.

He sighed. "Come with me. I'll explain everything, if you promise to let it be our little secret."

_[To be continued…]_


End file.
